The comparisons between Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher will go on as long as the sport exists. Both of them were the best during their respective eras — Senna during the late 80s and early 90s and Schumacher from then on. I was never a Senna fan and in fact was a great follower of his great rival Alain Prost, but since that day in May 1994 I have grown to admire the man in the famous yellow helmet. I have read pretty much every book written about him and the more I read the more I believe that Ayrton Senna was not a racing driver but an enigma. He was a typical Brazilian — emotional, religious and charismatic but beyond all this was a deeply intense racing driver who didn’t just want to win, but destroy his opposition. His mental strength and powers of concentration will probably be unmatched and his ability to drive a qualifying lap was incredible. Senna was also a shrewd businessman and his negotiations with Ron Dennis have become as much part of motorsport history as his qualifying lap around Monaco in 1988. Michael Schumacher is the first of the modern-day drivers to become a legend in the sport. Totally dedicated, almost mechanically driving the car to perfection lap after lap, he is the complete professional. While Senna belonged to the turbo engines and qualifying tyres era, Michael is the master of the electronics and aerodynamics era of motorsport. Over a single lap I doubt if anyone will ever be as good as Senna, while the German’s ability to drive lap after lap with precision is unmatched. His ability to motivate a team of people is something remarkable but is also something that Senna was very good at during the golden era of the Honda engines. Senna, though, is (and was) a demi-god to fans all over the world. His ability to touch ordinary people was incredible and his charity work in Brazil endeared him to the masses like none other from the sport. The public love a martyr and when his Williams struck the wall at Tamburello, Ayrton Senna da Silva became a legend in sport. (Karun Chandhok, India’s best bet to make the F1 grid, is currently third in the British F3 rankings)
